Simple tariffs based on price multipliers for ATM VBR services

Abstract

We present an approach for constructing simple time-based tariffs for variable bit-rate (VBR) connections from constant bit-rate (CBR) prices, using price multipliers that depend on the traffic parameters of the VBR connection and reflect the resource usage of VBR connections relative to CBR connections. Our approach employs an effective bandwidth bound as a proxy for the maximum amount of traffic that conforms to the connection's traffic contract, and thus for the maximum resource usage. We compare the price multipliers computed by our approach with the multipliers published by an actual ATM service provider, and with those computed using a proxy for resource usage that is based on ATM Forum's generic CAC algorithm. Although our approach is presented in the context of ATM VBR services, it can be applied for creating tariffs for service level agreements (SLAs) where the maximum amount of conforming traffic is given by leaky (or token) bucket constraints. Copyright © 2003 AEI.